The Punishment of Sin in Hell, Doctrine 1
I. Doctrine.
That it is a strong Argument, that God hath provided a Glory for separate Souls hereafter, That He hath wrought us, and wrought on us a Work of Grace in this Life.
Ere the Reason of this will appear, I must first open three things, natural to the words: which will serve as materials, out of which to make forth that Argument.
First, that the thing here said to be wrought, is Grace or Holiness; which is a preparation unto Glory. (1.) Grace is the Work. And so, Phil. 1. 6. termed, The good Work. A frame of Spirit, created to good works: Eph. 2. 10. We are his Workmanship, created unto good Works. The Text here says, Who hath wrought us: There similarly, We are his Workmanship. And (2.) Secondly, this Work is a preparation to Glory. For, for one thing to be first wrought in order to another, is a preparation thereunto. Now saith the Text, He hath wrought us for this thing; and Rom. 9. 23. it is in terminis, The Vessels of Mercy, which he had afore prepared to Glory; which was by working Holiness: for it follows, ver. 24. Even us whom he hath called. Likewise, Col. 1. 12. Who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in Light: Meet, by making us Saints. So then, Had prepared, Hath made meet is all one with, Who hath wrought us for this thing. Here
The second, what is the principal Subject wrought upon, or prepared and made meet for Glory. 'Tis certainly the Soul, in Analogy to the Phrase here. We use to say (when we speak of our Conversion) Since my Soul was wrought on. And though the Body is said to be sanctified, 1 Thess. 5. 23. yet the immediate Subject is the Soul; and that primitively, originally: the Body by derivation from the Soul. And hence it is, the Soul (when a Man dies) carries with it all the Grace by inherency: All Flesh is Grass which withers; that is, the Body with all the appurtenances, saith Peter, 1 Pet. 1. 24. But you, having purified your Souls, being born again of incorruptible Seed (our Bodies are made of corruptible Seed, which is the opposition there) by the Word of God, which lives and abides for ever: And this is the Word (he says he means) which by the Gospel is preached (every day) unto you, ver. 25. and by preaching is engrafted in your Souls, purifying [your Souls] ver. 22. In no other Subject doth that Word (as preached) for ever abide. For the Body rots, and in the Grave hath not an inherent, but a relative Holiness, (such as the Episcopal Brethren would have to be in Churches consecrated by them) because once it was the Temple of the Holy Ghost, who dwells in us.
And that it is the Soul the Apostle hath here in his Eye, in this Discourse of his in my Text, as that which he intends the Subject here wrought upon, appears, if we consult the Well-head of his Discourse about the Soul, which is the 16. ver. of the 4. Chap. Our inward Man (says he) is renewed, &c. (there is your wrought upon here) whilst the outward (the Body) perisheth. Which Soul, in being call'd the inward Man, connotates at once both Grace and the Soul conjunct together, and distinct from the Body, as well as from Sin and Corruption. Elsewhere it is declared the subject first and originally wrought on, Eph. 4. 23. Be renewed [in the Spirit of your Minds.] Look round about the Text, and what is the [Ʋs] wrought on? plainly this Inward Man, by the Coherence afore and after. Ask yet 1. If our earthly Tabernacle (that is, our Body) be dissolved, we have, &c. that is, This inner Man, our Souls, have; for the Body is supposed dissolved. So likewise, ver. 4. [We] in this Tabernacle, that is, our Souls in these Bodies. More expresly after, ver. 8. our very Souls not only whilst in our Bodies, but when separated from our Bodies, have the [We] given them; We are willing to be absent from the Body, and present with the Lord. The We present with the Lord, and absent from the Body, is, nor can be, no other than a separate Soul in its estate of Widowhood. And so here, ver. 5. Hath wrought Ʋs: the Soul bears the Person, carries away the Grace with it.
Add to this, the Time here specified in Observa quôd non in futuro dicit, Parabit nos. Non demumparabitur; ubi jam induendum est, &c. Musc. in locum.the Text, in which we are wrought upon: It is but this Life, and during the term thereof. Hath wrought us, says the Apostle; not in the future, Who shall work us for it: That [hath wrought] referring to the work of Conversion at the first, Who [hath made] us meet to be partakers, &c. Col. 1. 12. and who doth continue still to work us; the Peterperfect being often put by the Apostle for the Present, God renewing the inner Man Day by Day, Chap. 4. 16. So working upon it, in order to this self-same thing, continually. Unto which Words there, these here have an evident aspect; yet so, as that time of working is but during this Life: For it is whilst the outward Man is mouldring, and that by Afflictions, which during this moment work an eternal weight of Glory, ver. 17. and that is expresly said to be but this present time, Rom. 8. So then, there is no Parabit in that other World: But, as Solomon says of Man, There is no work after this Life; No remembrance, Eccl. 9. 10.says David: namely, which Psal. 6. 5.hath any influence into a Man's Eternity. So there is no working upon us in order thereunto, after Death: God hath done his Do [hath wrought] and Man hath finished his course; as Paul of himself, and in this Chapter of my Text, ver. 10. Every Man receiveth the things done in his Body, be they good or evil. Those things that are done in this Body only; therefore only what in this Life he hath wrought. And for this he hath wrough us, (says the Text.)
§.
These things premised, I come to the Argument to be raised out of them, to prove the Point in hand.
First, that Grace or Holiness, because they are immediately wrought in the Soul, that therefore when the Body dies the Soul shall be taken up into Life. That this is a meet and congruous Ordination of God, the Scripture it self owns, and seems so to pitch the reason of it, in Rom. 8. 10, 11. And if Christ be in you, the Body is dead, because of Sin: but the Spirit is Life, because of Righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you; he that raised up Christ from the Dead, shall also quicken your mortal Bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. He gives an account of what is to become hereafter, both of the Bodies and Souls of them in whom Christ is. (1.) First, for the Body that is condemned to die, The Body is dead because of Sin. By Body I understand the same which he in the 11th Verse terms the mortal Body to be raised up; which (says he) is dead, that is, appointed to die; as one sentenced to Death you term a dead Man. And this [because of Sin.] It was meet that that first threatning of dying should have some effect to evidence the Truth of God therein. Only God is favourable in his Ordination in this, that he arresteth but the Body, the less principal Debtor; but that (to be sure) shall pay for it: It is appointed to all Men once to die, even for Men that are in Christ, as this place of the Romans hath it. Then (2.) follows, what remains the Soul of such an one when the Body dies. [But] says he, (speaking by way of exception, and contrary fate too,) The Spirit is Life, because of Righteousness. The Spirit is the Soul in contradistinction to the Body; this, when the Body dies, is Life: He says not Living only, or immortal, but is swallowed up into Life: And why? because of Righteousness, which is Christ's Image; and so preserves, and by God's ordination upon dying, elevates the Soul, which is the immediate and original Subject of it, (which is the Point in hand.) For this thing it is, God hath wrought it. But then because the Query would be, Shall this Body for ever remain dead, because of (this first) Sin, and bear this Punishment for ever? No: Therefore (3.) he adds, He that raised up Christ from the Dead, shall also quicken your mortal Bodies. So at last, and then bringing both Body and Soul together unto compleat Glory.
And the congruity of Reason that is for this appointment is observable, something like to that, 1 Cor. 15. As by Man came Death, so by Man came also the Resurrection from the Dead. For that Sin that condemned us to this Death, we had from the first Adam by bodily Generation, as the channel or means of conveying it, who was (as other) Father of our Flesh.
The Arrest therefore goes forth against the Body, which we had from that Adam, because of that Sin, conveyed by means of our Bodies: for tho I must not say, the Body defiles the Soul, or of it self is the immediate Subject of Sin; yet the original Means or Channel, through which it comes down, and is derived unto us, is the Generation of our Bodies. The Body therefore congruously pays for this, and the Death thereof is a Means to let Sin out of the World, as the propagating it was a means to bring Sin in: But an holy Soul or Spirit, which is the Offspring of God, having now true Holiness and Righteousness from the second Adam, communicated to it, and abiding in it; and being not only the immediate Subject thereof, but further, the first and original Subject, from and by which it is derived unto the Body; the Womb, into which that immortal Seed was first cast, and in which the inward Man is formed, and in respect of a constant abiding, in which it is that Seed is termed incorruptible. Hence therefore says God of this Soul, [It is Life] It shall live when this Body dies. There is nothing of Christ's Image, but is ordained to abide for ever. Charity never fails. His Righteousness 1 Cor. 13. 8 2 Cor. 9. 9.endures for ever; and therefore is ordained to conserve and elevate unto Life the Subject it is in, and that is the Soul. This, as a Foundation of the substantial parts of this first Reason out of this one Scripture, thus directly and explicitly holding this forth.
§.
I come (2.) to the Argumentation it self, which ariseth out of these things laid together. (1.) That the Soul is the immediate Subject of Grace. (2.) The first and primitive Susceptive thereof. (3.) And it self is alone and immediatly capable of Glory, which Grace is a preparation to. And (4.) that God afore our Deaths hath wrought all of Grace he intends to work, in preparation to Glory. Out of all these a strong Argument doth arise, That such a Soul upon Death shall be admitted unto Glory; and not be put to stay till the time of the Resurrection, when both Soul and Body shall be joined again together. And that this holdeth a just and meet conveniency upon each, or at least, all these grounds when put together.
First, consider the Soul as the immediate Subject of this working and preparation for Glory. Hence therefore this will at least arise, That the Inherency or Abiding of this Grace wrought in this Soul, depends not upon its conjunction with the Body; but so as it remains as an everlasting and perpetual Conserver of that Grace stampt on it; yea, and carries it all with it self, as a rich Treasure innate unto it wherever it goes, when separate from the Body. I say, it either hath in it, or appertaining unto it, all that hath been wrought for it, either in it, or by it. Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord: [And their Works do follow them:] They go to Heaven with them, and after them. And in what Subject else is it, that the Seed of God remains incorruptible, or the Word 1 Pet. 1. 23, 25.of God abides for ever? Or how else comes that Saying to be performed, 1 John 2. 17. He that doth the Will of God, endures for ever? Having therefore all these Riches by it, and as complete (as here it shall be,) meet it is it should partake the benefit thereof, and live upon them now when it is single and alone, and in its Widow's condition. And it is an opportune season, that by a Glory given it for that Holiness, this should now appear, That it was the Soul which was the sole intrinsick and immediate Receptive of all this Holiness. This is the first. Add also,
Secondly; Its being the first and primitive Subject of Holiness, from vhich it is derivatively in the Body. Meet it was this Soul should not be deferred, till Magis conveniens videtur, ut animae inquibus per prius fuit culpa & meritum, prius etiam vel puniantur vel p…aemientur. Aquinas cont. Gent. lib. 4. cap. 19 § 3.the Appurtenance of it be united to it, but be served first, and admitted into that Glory ordained; and by having it self first possession given of that Inheritance, the Body might in its season be admitted derivatively thereinto from it, after that renewed Union with it by the Resurrection. Reason good, that look as in Priority, Grace, the preparation unto Glory, was wrought; so, in that Order of Priority, Glory it self should be communicated. And therefore seeing its Fate is to abide a while alone, therefore first to enjoy, and drink both the Juice and Fruit of that Vine it is the Root of.
And (3.) it being in it self, when separate, as immediatly capable of this Glory, as when it shall be again united to the Body: For what is the Essential of Glory, the Substance of that Life that swallows up all, but (as we said on v. 4.) God's immediate Presence, and our knowing him face to face, as we are known. Now of this the Apostle doth in these 6, 7, and 8 Verses, expresly inform us, That the separate Soul is not only capable thereof, but that it then begins to enjoy it: Therefore (says he) we are always confident, knowing, that whilst we are in the Body, we are absent from the Lord; (for we walk by Faith, not by Sight.) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the Body, and to be present with the Lord. Where to be present with the Lord, and to live by Sight, is expresly made the Privilege of a Soul absent from the Body; which can mean no other State, than that of the Soul between the Death of the Body, and the Resurrection. For whilst it is present in the Body afore Death, it is absent from the Lord; and when it shall be present with the Lord, after the Resurrection, it shall not then be any more absent from the Body. This Conjunction therefore of absent from the Body, and present with the Lord, falls out in no State else, but only in that Interim or space of time between. Let us withal view this Place in the Light, (by bringing the one to the other) which that Passage, 1 Cor. 13. 12. doth cast upon it: For now we see through a Glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as also I am known. [To see as in a Glass darkly] there, is to [walk by Faith] here: But to see face to face, and to know God as we are known, (so there) is all one; and to attain to sight, and be in Christ's presence (here.) And to be sure, the Body is in no estate whatever capable of knowing God, as we are known of him: None durst ever affirm that. For besides that, the Spiritual Knowledg of God is proper to an intellectual Nature: Further, so to know God, as God knows us, and so to be elevated to the Similitude of God's Understanding, is not communicable to the Body. We may as well dare to affirm God himself to be a Body, as that our Bodies are capable of ever being raised up thus to know God. Hence therefore whether the Soul be out of the Body, as after Death; or so in the Body, as it shall be after the Resurrection; yet still it is the Soul that is immediately alone capable of that Sight and Knowledg of God. And therefore seeing it depends not on the Body, it is as well capable of it afore the Resurrection without the Body, as after the Resurrection in the Body.
Only this must be added, That whilst indeed the Soul is at home in this Body, (this earthly Tabernacle) it is not capable of this Sight of the Glory of God, i. e. as to continue in the Body, and enjoy it; for it would crack this earthen Vessel: as 1 Cor. 15. 50. Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. And altho Paul, as a Stander-by, was an Overhearer, 2 Cor. 12.and an Eye-witness (by way of Revelation and Vision) of what the Spirits of Just Men in Glory do enjoy: Even as on the contrary, the Angels are often Standers-by on Earth, and Overseers of us, what is therein done, (as the Phrase is, Zech. 3. 7.) yet he was not estated into it, or admitted a Possessor thereof himself, no more than Angels into an earthly estate; and therefore could not say, whether the Revelation vouchsafed him, might not be in the Body as well as out of it: Whereas God had otherwise long since peremptorily determined that Question, That no Man could see God, and live; that is, at once continue in this Body, and see him face to face. And Paul here in my Text also determines it, That whilst we are at home in the Body, (as now) we are absent from the Lord. They are two incompatible Estates. But still when that which thus lets, (this Body) is taken out of the way, the Soul it self is sufficiently capable, as truly as ever it shall be.
§.
But if this Argument from these be yet judged not home enough, but short: Then let us in the fourth place add what Force the third Premise will give to it, concerning the Time of God's working on us, to drive all closer home; namely, That God hath wrought upon the Soul in this Life, all that ever he means to work, by way of Preparation for Glory. For this thing God [hath wrought us] which tho it might with the Enlargements and Sub-Arguments that now shall follow, be made an Argument alone; yet I choose to cast it into this Total, to make the whole the more strong.
Therefore (4.) gather up the Demonstrations thus: If the Soul be the immediate and first Subject of Grace, which is a preparation to Glory, and capable of this Glory, when out of the body; And God, the great Agent or Worker, hath wrought all that ever he means to work in it, this way, by way of preparation to Glory: Then, as Peter said in the case of admitting the Gentiles to Baptism, What should hinder that these Souls should not be glorified, Act. 10 47.instantly, when out of their bodies? If indeed, as the Papists, and corrupted Jews and Heathens have feigned, there were any work to be after wrought, a Purgatory, or the like; Then a Demurre or Caveat might be yet put in, to suspend this their admission into Glory: But the contrary being the truth, then, &c. Now the strength of the Argument from this latter, superadded to the rest, stands upon two strong Grounds.
First, if we consider what is common to God in this with all other, but ordinarywise Efficients or Workers, that are intent upon their Ends, which must be given to him, the only Wise All-powerful God, (who is here said, as an Efficient, to work us for this End.) When any ordinary Efficient hath brought his Work to a period, and done as much to such or such an End as he means to do, he delays not to accomplish his End, and bring it to execution; unless some over-powring impediment do lie in his way to it. If you have bestowed long & great Cost upon any of your Children, to fit and prepare them for any Imployment; The Ʋniversity suppose, or other Calling; Do you then let these your Children lie Truants, idle, and asleep at home, and not put them forth to that which you at first designed that their Education unto? Will you suffer them (in this case) to lose their time, Do you know how to do good to your Children, and doth not God? We see God doth thus in Nature. We say, when the Matter is as fully prepared as ever it shall be, that the forms enter without delay: Now Grace is expresly termed a preparation to Glory. Also God doth observe this in working of Grace it self, when the Soul is as fully humbled and emptied, and thereby prepared for the Lord by John Baptists Ministry, as he means to prepare it; the work of justifying Faith presently follows. In all his Dispensations of Judgments or Mercies, he observes the same. When mens sins are at full (as of the Amorites) he stays not a moment to execute Judgment: So in answering the Faith of his People waiting on him for Mercies. And thus it is for Glory; I have glorified thee on earth, (the only place and condition of our glorifying God) I have finished the work thou gavest me to do: And now (what now, and presently now remains there, follows) Glorifie me &c. Thus spake Christ our Pattern.
Secondly, there is this further falls out, in this Case and Condition, of such a Soul, as doth indeed call for this out of a kinde of necessity, and not of congruity only. For whereas by God's Ordination there are two ways of Communion with him, and but two, unto all Eternity; either that of Faith, which we have at present; and of Sight, which is for hereafter. Into these two, the Apostle resolves all God's Dispensations to us, ver. 7. of this Chapter, We walk by faith, (namely, in this life) not by sight. And again, 1 Cor. 13. 12. [Now] we see in a glass, [Then] face to face. These two [Now] and [Then] do divide the Dispensations for Eternity of time to come. The like in Peter, 1 Epist. 1. 8. In whom though [Now] you see him not, (as you one day shall) yet believing. If therefore when the Soul goes out of the Body, that way of communion with God by Faith utterly ceaseth (a)2 Cor. 13. 8, 13., that door and passage will be quite shut up; God having (b)1 Thes. 1. 11. John 6. 28.fulfilled all the work of faith (The work of God) with power, that ever he intendeth: Then surely Sight must succeed according to God's Ordination, or otherwise this would inevitably follow, That the Soul would be for that interim, until the Resurrection, cut off from all communion with God, whatever; having yet all its acquired holiness of Sanctification abiding in it, and Righteousness accompanying of it all that while. Look therefore as a Childe hath two, and but two wayes of living, and when the one ceaseth, the other succeeds, or Death would follow: In the Womb it lives by nourishment from the Navel, without so much as breathing at the mouth: but it no sooner comes into the world, but that former means is cut off, and it liveth by breath, and taking in nourishment by the mouth, or it must instantly die. So stands the case with the Soul here between Faith and Sight: So that we must either affirm, That the Souls dies to all spiritual actings and communions with God until the Resurrection, which those Scriptures so much do contradict, He that believeth hath eternal life, &c. and shall never (no not for Joh. 9. 51. & 11. 26.a moment) die; (and in those Promises it is not simply a sluggish Immortality, but to live, and act, and enjoy God (which is our life) must needs be meant:) Or we must on the other side affirm, That the life of Faith ceasing, and God yet having that way wrought all that ever he intendeth, That then, Sight of God face to face must come in its place: which indeed the Apostle in that 1 Cor. 13. affirms, in saying, ver. 10. When that which is perfect is come, then that which is but in part is done away. There is not an utter ceasing of the imperfect, and then an interval or long space of time to come between; and then, that which is perfect is to come: but the imperfect is done away by the very coming of that which is thus perfect. And in the 12th Verse he explains himself, That the imperfect is this our seeing [Now] in a glass darkly, that is, by Faith; and that perfect, to be that seeing God face to face, as that which presently entertains us in that other world. Nay, the Apostle admits not so much as a moment of cessation, but sayes, That the imperfect is done away, (ver. 10.) and vanisheth, (as ver. 8.) by the coming in of the perfect upon it: and so the imperfect, namely, [Faith] is swallowed up of the perfect, namely, [Sight.]
And then further, if we thus grant (as we must) this separate Soul to have this sight, or nothing now left it, to enjoy God any way by; Then it can be no other than Glory it is admitted unto: For, the sight of God face to face, and to know as we are known, is the very essence of Glory, as it differs from Faith. Neither is that ultimate Enjoyment, or happiness in God, which Souls shall have after the Resurrection, any other (in Name or Thing) than the sight of God, as it is thus distinguished from Faith; although it shall be then raised and intended unto far higher degrees of Perfection.
§
And for a Conclusion of this first Point, that which follows in that place lately cited out of 1 Pet. 1. 9. Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls, may as fitly serve for the confirmation of all these latter fore-going Notions, as to any other sense Interpreters have affixed.
I am aware how these words, Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls, are interpreted of that joy unspeakable, and full of glory, which the Verse afore had spoken, that many Saints through believing do in this life enjoy, as being salvation imperfect, and the earnest of it in the same kind, and so a part of the Reward of Faith received in hand (as we say) or aforehand, and vouchsafed over and above the ordinary way of living by Faith. This interpretation I no way gainsay, nor will go about to exclude: for I know it doth consist with that other I am about to give, and is subordinate to it: (And I have learned to take the most comprehensive sence the holy Ghost may be supposed to aim at in any Scripture.) But if this sence should directly alone obtain, yet by consequence, and at the rebound, it doth strongly argue the Point in hand. For if whilst Faith continues, God is pleased to vouchsafe the Soul, through believing, such joys; much more when Faith ceaseth, he will vouchsafe the same Soul a fuller enjoyment of himself at the ending of Faith: For why else are these present joys termed Salvation, and that as distinct from that right to salvation, which otherwise Faith at all times estates us into, but for this, that these joys are an entrance into, and a taking possession of Glory, over and above what ordinarily Faith giveth? And therefore they have the name given them, as being the earnest of the same kind, unto that greater fum is to be paid (as in all Contracts it useth to be) at the end of that performance on one part: which end is when Faith ends. And so that is made the set Date or time when this full payment is to begin, which this earnest aforehand bindeth God unto.
And it were hard to suppose, that God would give such a part of these joys, even whilst Faith continues, for so long a time as until the Resurrection, and then withdraw all communication of himself both in Joy and Faith also. But I leave the prosecution of this Argument, till I come to those words, Who hath also given us the earnest of the Spirit.
I also know, that by this phrase, The salvation of our souls, the Soul being the eminent part of man, is often in Scripture, by a Synecdoche, put for the whole person. And I must not deny but that ultimately it is intended here, it extending it self to the whole of Salvation first, and last after Faith ended. Which sense on the other hand many interpreters are for.
I only contend for this, That the salvation of the soul is intended also of that Salvation which falls out in the midst between these joys (the earnest) in this life, and that ultimate Salvation at the Resurrection, that is the Salvation of the Soul, whilst separate, as being the next. It hath a weight in it, that Salvation and Damnation should so often be said to be of the soul by Christ himself, as Mat. 26. 16. What shall it profit a Man to gain the whole World (and so provide for his body) and lose his own Soul? And again, in speaking of the Soul as considered apart from the Body, Mat. 10. 28. Fear not them that are able to kill but the body, and are not able to kill the soul. But that which is more conjunct to my purpose; it is observable, that this our Apostle Peter should choose to use in this Epistle, more than any other Apostle, this phrase of [Soul] in relation to Salvation, either as being the eminent subject, and sometimes as the single subject both of Grace and Salvation: So in this Chapter, You have purified your souls, &c. as the immediate susceptive of the incorruptible seed (as was observed.) Then again, in chap. 2. 11. Abstain from fleshly lusts which war [against the Soul] and, 8. 25. Ye are returned to the Bishop of your Souls. Which he speaks as being the eminent part, and (upon separation from the body) the special charge he hath pastoral care of. And more directly to our purpose, ch. 4. last v. he exhorts them when they come to die, to commit their souls to God, as then being to be separate from their bodies. Now it were hard to think that this Salvation to come should bear the title and name of the salvation of the soul in this and other Scriptures; and Heb. 10. v. last. Jam. 5. v. last.that yet when this Soul shall in the other World come to subsist for a long time single and alone, and then be properly and without figure: A meer soul without a body, a lonesome soul: That during that state it should not be the subject of this Salvation, and so intended here, when more properly and literally, if ever, it is the salvation of the Soul. And it would be yet more strange, that the phrase, salvation of the Soul, should be wholy restrained unto that estate of the Soul, when remitted to the body at Resurrection, and onelyonly unto that. And that word, the soul, should serve onelyonly synecdochically as a part put to signifie the whole man, as then it is to be raised up: but especially, it were strangest of all, if it should be confined and limited in this place of Peter, wherein this salvation of the soul is set forth, for the comfort of such as were to lay down their tabernacles of their bodies for Christ (as this Peter speaks of himself in the next Epistle,) and whose faith was then to cease with their lives, whose expectations therefore he would in this case certainly pitch upon that salvation of the soul next, which is this of the soul separate. To confirm all which,
That which further invited me to this place, was this phrase [The end of your Faith] especially upon the consideration that he speaks it unto such Christians, who in these times were (as he foretells, ch. 4. ver. 4.) shortly to be martyred, and at present were sorely tried (v. 7. of this Chapter) and in the last verse of the fourth, he thereupon instructeth and exhorteth them to commit their souls (when they die) to be kept by God: And so understood in a proper and literal sence, this salvation of their souls is in all respects termed, The end of their Faith.
First, in that it is the next and immediate event that Faith ends and determines in, as Death is said to be the end of life: So noting forth, that when Faith ends, this Salvation of the Soul begins and succeeds it. The end of a thing signifies the immediate event, issue, period thereof. As of wicked men it is said, whose end is destruction, Phil. 3. & Heb. 10. last v. Apostacy and unbelief are said to be a drawing back unto perdition. And on the contrary, there Faith is termed a believing to the salvation of the Soul: And both note out the final event & onsequent of each, and salvation of the soul to be the end of faith, when men continue and go on to believe, until their faith arrive at, and attaineth this Salvation of the Soul. To this sence also, Rom. 6. 22. You have your fruit in holiness, and the [end] everlasting life. And the Apostle Peter having in the foregoing verses celebrated the fruits and workings of their faith in this life, as in supporting them gloriously under the sorest trials, v. 7. and then sometimes filling their hearts with joy unspeakable and glorious, v. 8. he here at last concludeth with what will be the end or issue of it in that other life, when faith it self shall cease; and what it is that then they shall receive, Receiving (after all this) the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls, foreign, in the present, by a frequent and usual Enallage of time, being put for the future: for ye shall receive (or being about to receive) to shew the certainty of it: that when Faith shall end, you may be sure on't, even of that Salvation, (that great Salvation so spoken of by the Prophets, v. 10.) of your souls, which as it hath no end to be put unto it, as Faith hath: so no interruption or space of time to come between (during which your souls should not be actually saved) A salvation of your souls singly (whilst through death they shall so exist) as well as of the same souls primarily, and more eminently, when both soul and body shall be reunited,
2. The end of your Faith, that is, of your aims and expectations in your Faith: the end importing the aim or expectation, which is also proper and a literal sence of that word. And upon this account also the salvation of the soul, when they should die, that being the very next thing their eyes must needs be upon, is therefore here intended.
And 3. The end of your faith, that is, as being that for which the great God (who keeps us by his power through faith unto salvation, v. 5.) hath wrought this faith in you. Accordingly we find it termed the work of faith, 1 Thes. 1. 3. Which when God hath fully wrought, and brought to that degree he aimed at in this life; (or to use the Apostles own expression of it, 2 Thes. 1. 11.) when God hath fulfilled the work of faith with power, he then crowneth it with this Salvation of the Soul without end. As James speaks of Patience, when it hath had its perfect Work, chap. 1. 4. compared with verse 12. And so speaks my Text, for this self-same thing he hath wrought us. And therefore when this Faith shall cease which he wrought for this, he will attain his end without delay: and you (says he) shall attain your end also: and Faith thus ceasing, if this salvation of the soul did not succenturiate and recruit it anew, the end of this Faith were wholly and altogether present destructive losse unto the soul in its well-being, until the Resurrection.foreign pro foreign
4. The [End] signifies the perfection and consummation of any thing, as Christ is said to be the End of the Law, Rom. 10. 4. and so the meaning is, That your faith, which is but an imperfect knowing God, shall then, when it ceaseth, be swallowed up of sight, (which is all one with that salvation here) tanquam perfectibile, a perfection, as that which is imperfect, is said to be by that which is perfect, 1 Cor. 13. 10. Thus much for the literal and proper import of the word [End.]
Now then, If we take the word [End] in its proper meaning, and the word [Soul] likewise in its native proper meaning also, which sence in Reason should be first served (when the scope will bear it) then it makes for that purpose, more fitly, which we have had in hand.
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That nothing may be wanting in this last place cited, to make up all the Particulars in the foregoing Sections insisted on: So it is, that the Apostle Peter doth further plainly insinuate, That this Salvation (here) consisteth in the Sight and Vision of Christ, (which was one Particular afore-mentioned) accompanied with Joy unspeakable, and glorious. The Coherence (if observed) makes this forth clearly: For whereas in the Verse immediately foregoing, he had commended their present State of Faith by this, Whom [now] though you see not, yet believing, rejoice with Joy unspeakable, and glorious. That [Now] you see not, (in this Life) is set in opposition, and carries a promise with it of a time to come, wherein they should see, even as Christ said to his Disciples, Joh. 13. 33. & 36. compared, Whither I go, I [Now] say to you, ye cannot come; but thou shalt follow me [AFTERWARDS]. So here [NOW] believing, (which is the Principle at the present which you live upon) you see him not; but when the end of your faith shall come, you shall then see him; and in this it is consisteth the salvation of your soul. So that still it carries on what I have afore spoken unto, That when Faith ceaseth, Sight cometh; yea, perfects and swallows it up as was said even now, out of 1 Cor. 12, 13.
And let me add this, That the Apostle on purpose doth bring the mention of this supereminent fruit of faith, (Even now when we see not) that believing, ye yet rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious: On purpose, I say, to make way for the raising up their thoughts & apprehensions, how infinitely transcending that salvation of their souls must be, when Faith ending, they attain to Sight, to see him face to face, whom their souls have loved: It is implicitly as if he had said unto them, Oh! think with your selves, what Joy, what Glory that must needs be, which exceedeth and surpasseth this that now accompanies your faith, in an answerable proportion, as much as sight of Christ's presence, and face to face, must be supposed to excel the knowledge of him by faith, which sees him but as absent, darkly!
And further, give me leave to improve this Notion: You may take this assured evidence, That your souls shall then see, and enjoy God, when your faith shall CEASE, which will be, when once your souls shall come to be separate from your bodies by death: In that, even now, in this life, it is your Souls and Spirits that are the immediate receptives, or partakers and subjects of such glorious Joys,
The soul enjoys them (though in the body, yet) without the help or concurrence of the body, or the phantasms of it: yea, such Raptures do pass understanding, that is, the common way of understanding, which by the use and help of the body, or images in the fancy, the Mind exerciseth in other things, and which do concur with the understanding ordinarily in faith. But this joy falls into, and is illapsed within the soul it self immediately; yea, the weakness of your bodies, and bodily spirits, will not permit you to have so much of this joy, as otherwise the soul is now capable of by faith. And therefore by this experimental taste aforehand in your own souls, you may be ascertained, That your souls, when separate from your bodies by death, as well as when united again unto their bodies, shall enjoy this great Salvation.
And thus much for the first Point raised out of the words, which did undertake an Argumentation for a separate soul's Glory and Happiness. (1.) From the Condition of the Soul, as the immediate subject of Grace wrought in it. (2.) From God's Ordination of the Work wrought, To raise the soul up to life, whilst Sin should bring Dissolution upon the Body. (3.) From the Scope of the Worker, God himself; who as an Efficient will accomplish the End, when his Work for that end is finish'd. And all these, as comprehended in what the very first view and front of the words of my Text hold out: God hath wrought us for the self-same thing.
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But lo! a greater matter is here. It is not simply said, God hath wrought us for this; but, He that hath wrought us for this thing, is God: Thereby calling upon us to consider, How great an Hand or Efficient is here, even God, who hath discovered in a transcendent manner his Glory, in the ordaining and contriving of this Work unto this great end. Take it not therefore as a bare Demonstration given from God's working Ʋs to this end, such as is common to other Agents, (as hath been said). But further, a Celebration of the Greatness and Glory of God, in his having contrived this with so high an Hand, like unto the Great God: And is as if he had said, There is a Design in this, worthy of God, He hath shewn himself in this to be the Great God indeed. He that hath wrought us for this is God.
When God's ordinary Works are spoken of, it sufficeth himself to say, God did thus, or this: But when God's Works of Wonder, then often you find such an illustrious Note of Reflection upon, and pointing at Him, to have done as God. And it is ordinary among Men, when you would commend the known Worth of the Artist, to say, He that wrought this is such a Man, so to commend the Workmanship.
And thus both when the Holy-Ghost speaks of this Glory it self, (which is the End for which here) his stile is, Wbose Maker and Builder is God, Heb. 11. 10. And in like equipage here of Preparation to that End, he saith, He that hath wrought us [for this thing] is God. In this very Chapter, (2 Cor. 5. to go no further,) when the great Work of Salvation, in the whole of it, is spoken of, he prefaceth thus to it: All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself, &c. That is, in this Transaction he hath appeared like that God [of whom all things else are] and so more eminently in this than in all, or at least, any other Work. What there is said of Salvation in the whole, is here of that particular Salvation of a separate Soul. You have the like Emphasis put, Heb. 2. 10. of bringing many Sons to Glory, [It became him] says the Text. Now put all together, and the result is: